


Affection, and other Quantifiable Actions

by clxude



Series: Ushiten Week [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5 + 1 Things, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, nothing in parentheseses is a quote - Freeform, ushiten, was that a hamilton reference lmao who knows - Freeform, way too many anime references - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 14:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7056562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clxude/pseuds/clxude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>(He's a monster)</em><br/>Ushijima Wakatoshi isn't a monster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affection, and other Quantifiable Actions

**Author's Note:**

> I think, besides Caillou and Chill, this is my favorite thing for Ushiten Week. 
> 
> Ushiten Week//day 1 - firsts
> 
> //beta-ed by [Rey](http://kxrasuno.tumblr.com/)

**_i._ **

_ (Have you ever seen the moon, and asked yourself, ‘How do things become so beautiful and so unattainable?’ Because if you were the moon, I would still be me, trapped so far away from you.) _

In his second year of middle school, someone called Ushijima Wakatoshi unstoppable. It didn't mean much at the time, and for most of the spring term, it didn't.

He didn't fully process it until the third set of finals. He was his team's ace, their spearhead and blade. They had the match in the bag, five points ahead, paired along with the two other sets.

Wakatoshi was breathing hard, his palms numb long ago. But he kept scoring, racking up points even when facing down three blockers and a star libero.

_ "Have you seen him play before? Even at practice matches, he's unstoppable, playing like a demon." _

The words rung in his head. He jumped, hitting the ball with all his might until the final whistle was blown.

_ "He's like a monster." _

...

Shiratorizawa, for all its prestigious acclaim, bred just as many rumors as any other high school. The whispers surrounded him in the club room, trailed behind him when he entered the gymnasium. He could block it out, and instead focus on the scent of Air Salonpas and the sound of rubber on lacquer.

"Ushijima-kun, it's good to see you again."

He smiled at the coach, but he suspected that it came out more like a grimace. He hated the coach from the moment they met in his second year of middle school.

_ "You're even better than your father," _

But, he wasn't his father: he was Ushijima Wakatoshi.  _ Wakatoshi, _ not his father.

He shrugged it off and walked to the corner to begin his warm up. He leaned forward, touching the tops of his sneakers. The motions were calming and blocked out most of the noise of a high school volleyball team, receding thoughts of his father. By the time he walked onto the court with a final ankle roll, the imposing room already felt like home.

He fell in line behind several third year wing spikers, staring at the lead setter. The boy, short with light brown hair, tossed the ball up before softly tapping it with his fingers. A spiker ran up to the net, jumping up with an insane amount of height. The ball perfectly connected with his palm, and the echo of the collision resounded around them.

The spiker let out a loud shriek before running after his ball. The line moved faster after that. By the time it was Ushijima's turn, his fingers itched to touch the ball.

The setter grabbed a ball from the carriage without looking at him. He raised it above his head,

"How do you like your tosses?"

"The higher the better. And, a bit to the left."

A second later, he jumped. The ball was a few centimeters off to the right from perfect, but he easily readjusted himself in the air. The ball rocketed through the air, forming a sharp straight, millimeters from the line. He started to duck under the net to fetch the volleyball, but the setter stopped him.

"You're the new ace that coach told us about, right? Ushijima Wakatoshi?"

He nodded, slowly edging his way along the net.

"You're going to have to fight for that title. People around here, they're not huge fans of legacies."

Ushijima's brow furrowed, stopping his crawl.

"I am the ace simply because I'm the best."

The setter's jaw dropped for an instant before knocking his head back and letting out a loud laugh.

"God, Ushijima-chan. This year's going to be interesting."

...

Half way through practice the next day, someone blocked a spike. It wasn't uncommon or necessarily strange at Shiratorizawa. But, it was  _ his _ spike, Ushijima's  _ unstoppable _ spike, a straight cutting the line with a laser.

"Holy  _ fuck, _ that was hard." The redhead blocker shrieked as he shook out his hands before cracking a few knuckles. "I didn't think I was going to make it in time. You've got killer speed."

Wakatoshi didn't respond, didn't know  _ how _ to respond to the redhead to managed a kill block on one of his spikes on his first try. The ball rolled around on the ground, bumping off one of the net posts before coming to a stop at his feet.

"You wanna spike again? I need to practice my reading blocking."

He blocked the next spike, missed two, three, and blocked the fourth. Ushijima kept hitting them harder, running through setters until even the least versed one's arms felt like they would fall off. He wouldn't give in, and neither would the blocker.

It kept going, long after practice finished, not stopping until the factuality advisor kicked them out of the gym so she was able to lock up.

The setter crawled off, leaving Ushijima and the blocker alone in the courtyard near the volleyball gymnasium.

"How did you do that?" They were the first words he spoke, cocooned in confusion and shock. "My spikes haven't been blocked in years."

"I watched you yesterday. After that, you weren't so hard to read. You lean too heavily on whatever side you're about to ram with and rely on the sole fact you can hit hard with your left hand."

His mouth opened, searching for a response, before closing.

"You won't block me tomorrow."

"Oh, wanna test that, ace?"

**_ii._ **

_ (There’s a sunrise somewhere, and it’s all around you until you’re drowning in sunlight.) _

The bus was deadly silent on the way back to Miyagi from Tokyo. They had lost, 2-0, in the semifinals to a team from Kanto. It was a shock to everyone: the team, girls from Shiratorizawa, the odd parent that managed to skip work. It was as if a blanket had settled overhead, cutting off light and oxygen until they were 10 points behind and the other team's cheers kept growing louder and louder, stronger and stronger, the way Shiratorizawa fans sounded back in Miyagi.

Their blocks were superhuman, more secure than even Date Kou's Iron Wall could ever hope to be, shutting out Ushijima every time he jumped.

Wakatoshi fought hard, dragged his way tooth and nail out of the pit, but their block follows couldn't keep up.

And so the bus was like a cemetery, heavy and humid and sour with the stench of sweat. Tendou's fingers were wrapped around the armrest between the two of them. His knuckles were white from strain. Ushijima wanted to say something, knew he should because that's what teammates  _ did _ , supported each other even when there wasn't a reason because they lost in the semifinals and had their asses handed to them on national television. But words had never been his friend, and making them come out had never been his strong suit. He could forge them in his mind, slap them together like he would a volleyball until they were smooth and articulate. But the moment he opened his mouth, all the air was ripped from his lungs, leaving him in a stunned silence.

He opened his mouth once before quickly shutting it, refocusing his attention on the headrest positioned in front of them. It was easier to look there than at Tendou's fist, and far easier than his face. Ushijima didn't want to imagine what mask Tendou had thrown there today. He didn't want to think about what happy go lucky attitude he was faking for the sake of the team.

The guess monster did too much and far more than he was ever given credit for. They were only second years and Tendou never got much time on the court, but he was bigger than life, screaming from the bench long after his throat gave out.

They had spent enough long nights together practicing, spiking and blocking, spiking and blocking,  _ spiking and blocking _ , that the redhead's facial expressions were all but seared into Ushijima's retinas, even if he still didn't understand most of them. He knew Tendou well enough that losing did not affect him, and that there was always next year, and next year's team would be the combination of the century, the kind straight out of a Shounen Jump manga. He knew the blocker's fingers didn't curl together and his nails didn't bite into his flesh.

He knew Tendou didn't cry.

But Ushijima also knew that even though his silence was accepted and even welcomed by Tendou, he also knew that Tendou deserved warm words of encouragement as well.

"Tendou, I - "

"It's okay, Wakatoshi-kun. You can't win them all. Every mangaka could tell you that the story gets boring when you win the impossible on the first try." The following smile seemed forced, but Ushijima didn't question it. Tendou Satori had always been vocal, forever will be; he would speak when he was ready.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ushijima could make out the tiniest motion of joints relaxing. That's all that seemed to matter, that things between them would continue as normal, that the loss would not destroy everything. They could carry on, spiking and blocking, spiking and blocking, spiking and blocking, until they won nationals and everyone knew their names, until everyone knew the Guess Monster and Miracle-Boy Wakatoshi.

"Besides, if we won this year, next year would be boring." His voice sounded quieter, like he was tiptoeing to the edge of a precipice. It was, almost, and they were tittering on the edge. But it was nice there, with everything laid out before them in neat rows to choose at their discretion. It was nice there, and safe when they stood by each other. "And I don't ever want things to be boring between us, Wakatoshi-kun."

His breath caught in his throat, like it did every time Tendou called him by his given name. It was nice on his lips, less harsh than when Ushijima himself said it. He had tried Satori only once, in the familiar darkness of his bedroom. He liked it immensely, adored it, even. But in the darkness, it seemed it intimate and intense. He shoved the moment down deep, urging himself to forget it. But it came rushing back, every time Tendou roared his name on the court after a particularly strong spike, or whispered it in the afterglow of a match.

Even then, when colors seemed washed out and hazy after a defeat, it still buzzed on his skin.

"We're best friends, Wakatoshi-kun. I can't imagine things ever being boring between us, but still. I want it to keep being all  _ pow _ and  _ whoosh _ !"

Many things about the exchange tugged at his attention, but he latched onto best friends. Something about it set him on fire. Ushijima couldn't remember the last time someone called him that, or a time when he even  _ had _ a friend. It had been years at least, maybe once or twice when he was in primary school.

But the way Tendou said it, it sounded perfect and forever, like a promise, like an oath.

The words looped around his mind until the bus reached Shiratorizawa.

_ Best friends. _

He liked the sound of that.

**_iii_ ** _. _

_ (We’re in the midst of an explosion, and yet, I’ve never felt safer than I do now in your arms.) _

" _ Please, _ Wakatoshi-kun? It'll be fun, I promise."

Ushijima wasn't quite sure what would be fun. He had tuned the middle blocker out at some point a few minutes after practice ended, while they were walking to the clubroom. The ace knew it wouldn't bother Tendou; he was more than happy to rattle on about his new favorite show for hours uninterrupted.

"I'll even let you pick?" He dangled the option over Ushijima's head in an attempt to coerce him. It didn't work - it never worked - but Ushijima sighed anyway.

"Okay," he placed his foot on the first step, but stopped when the blocker grabbed his elbow.

"I promise you'll like it." He smiled, and once again, Wakatoshi found it hard to breathe for no certain reason.

...

The walk from Shiratorizawa to Tendou's apartment wasn't far, and Ushijima was fairly certain he could make it blindfolded if the situation ever arose. It was very likely that he would be hit by a car or bus if he did attempt it, so, for the moment, he was more than happy to walk there with Tendou.

As Tendou unlocked the front door, he started to rapidly list various anime.

"There's  _ Tokyo Ghoul _ , but it's pretty violent.  _ Free! _ is kind of boring plot wise, and  _ Kuroko No Basket _ has a lot of really bad jokes. We could watch  _ Owari No Seraph? _ It has vampires and angst."

"I thought you said I could pick," Ushijima frowned as he slipped off his shoes. He figured something like this would happen; Tendou's love for anime conquers all.

"You can, I was just suggesting some of my favorite since you didn't - "

"We can watch whichever one you want, Tendou."

The middle blocker beamed at him.

"Just go wait in the lounge. I have to get the disc from my room."

Ushijima nodded, and with that, Tendou rushed to his room.

He settled in the lounge, tugging a soft knitted blanket over his legs. Soon enough, Tendou entered carrying a bag of chips and several DVDs. He chucked the chips at Ushijima, who easily caught them, before turning on the television and loading the disc. He pressed a few buttons on the remote, skipped the opening screen, and sat down next to Ushijima as the opening credits started.

It was hard for the ace to follow the show; it was riddled with time skips and unfamiliar phrases and Tendou talking about his favorite voice actor from the show, which led to a tangent about the VA's other shows.

By the time the episode was over, it was almost like he knew even less about the show than when the opening sequence first started.

"So, what did you think, Wakatoshi-kun?"

"It was good," and it was far from the truth, or at least the truth Tendou was expecting. Sure, he couldn't tell you anything about the show, and he didn't understand what was so amazing about the voice actor, but the way Tendou smiled at the screen and talked about the show made Ushijima feel light, similar to how he felt when one of his spikes broke through three blockers. That was good enough, when they were pressed together, covered in the soft glow of the TV.

"I'm glad." Tendou laughed quietly, his forehead coming to rest on Ushijima's shoulder. The skin felt warmer there now, and he didn't know how to rationalize the feeling. But he liked it, and told Tendou to start the next episode.

He wanted to hear that laugh again, whatever that meant.

**_iv_ ** **.**

_ (You were the one positive thing born this year, and you were the one positive thing I’ve ever seen.) _

Everything between them, from that night onward, fell into place with easy steps. It was normal and content, the same motions over and over without growing old.

Because of that, it made sense every time they got together, going out for lunch or watching anime or just  _ sleeping _ . The latter always left Ushijima feeling warm, with bright cheeks and heated skin. But it's a nice sort of warm, like the kind that emerges from a wool sweater in the dead of winter.

It's warm and soft and perfect and so insanely  _ Tendou;  _ his heart squeezed at the thought. Ushijima still didn’t know what these feelings and thoughts mean, but he liked them, and liked spending time with Tendou more than he thought was possible when they first met.

It's universally perfect, and Ushijima can't imagine letting go.

...

And things have always fallen perfectly when it came to Ushijima and Tendou. Every step of the way flowed into the next, every heartbeat aligned until it all made sense.

And it did, they were clearly the end of the line for each other, obvious with every breath and spike and block.

The kiss, the first and certainly not the last, was just another moment in the timeline, another second perfectly sewn into the rest.

**_v._ **

_ (I swear to God, nothing about this town is as beautiful as you were that night, doused in starlight and moonlight and  _ love _.) _

For every moment of them that was streamline, a minute fraction of them wasn’t. They didn't click together like puzzle pieces, but more like wet clay being baked together in a kiln. It was slow and arduous, but soon enough, they were forged together, tougher than steel.

But for every inch sealed together, there was an upset. It’s just, no one expected it to be Karasuno.  Karasuno was a puzzle, and they fit together like one. They were a team of Ushijimas and Tendous, and army of best friends fighting until they stood on top.

Ushijima wanted to crush them, along with the unfamiliar feeling rising in his chest. He didn't like it, or the space it seemed to take up inside him, shoving aside every thought and fluttering heartbeat brought around by Tendou, by  _ Satori _ .

He  _ hated _ it, because they were the end of the line for each other, and this was the end of a legacy for Shiratorizawa. He hated, but he choked it down for Tendou, for everyone, because he was the unmoving captain, and he was a pillar of strength, and everything was shattering around them.

He stood firm for each of them, because over the years that Tendou had filled, he learned that they needed it; they deserved it.

**_vi._ **

_ (It’s better to let go of the past, because I will love you from here on out indefinitely.) _

After the final game, Ushijima lost his scholarship. They all did, because what champion loses to a no-name school from Miyagi? They were eagles, soaring and swooping with blood stained claws, taken down by crows.

They never counted on crows. But then again, no one else did, either.

...

They went to school together, Ushijima and Tendou. It was small and local, focused on accounting. The school was affordable and close enough to home, with a volleyball team that won a few local tournaments in the past. It's enough for them, for Tendou and Ushijima. Because, somewhere along the line after countless hours of anime and volleyball, Ushijima realized the floating feeling in his heart could be akin to love. Being close was enough, even if he was no longer welcome on the national team.

Tendou and Ushijima, Ushijima and Tendou.

They had always been more than enough.

...

_ Sailor Moon _ was the one that caught finally his attention in their third year of college. Ushijima liked how happy it was, with pastel colors and cheerful music. Satori went along with it, curled up beside his ace.

"Wakatoshi?"

"Hmm?" His fingers were trailing along Satori's scalp, scratching slightly.

"I love you. A lot, even more than anime. And I want us to be together, forever." There was a kiss on his neck, just as soft as the words he had spoken moments prior.

"I love you too, Satori."

In the silence that followed, there was everything they needed, because they were enough; they had always been enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated. Requests are welcome at my [tumblr](http://mother-iwa-chan.tumblr.com/)


End file.
